White Onion Soup - A tribute to Keith Floyd

I'm sure I am not the only one who was saddened by Keith Floyd's passing, I loved watching his programs, mainly for his unique style of cooking, which made me feel quite at home in the kitchen, complete with a glass of wine, whilst cooking :)

I had planned as a tribute recipe to Keith Floyd, to make his Prawn's with chilli and coriander, (hoping to make very soon as it sounds so good!) however due to a few dinner guest changes, this glorious White onion soup ended up being first. This soup is so easy, delicious and will be a regular make here! It allows onion fan's to really get a lovely, oniony hit but within gentle, creamy, velvety surroundings. This recipe is taken from the book 'A splash and a dash' by Keith Floyd.

This is also my entry into the blogging event being held by Julia at A Slice of Cherry Pie and James of Back to the Chopping Board in tribute to Keith Floyd.



Not sure on recomended servings but I halved it and it serves 3 as a starter

Ingredients

50g unsalted butter
4 Spanish onions
2 celery sticks, stringed and finely chopped
50g plain flour
300ml milk
900ml good, hot chicken stock (I used a AWT chicken cube, worked well)
Nutmeg (I didn't add as not huge fan in savoury dishes)
S&P to taste

Garnish:
Single cream
Parsley (I didn't use)

Heat in a saucepan a little of the butter with 1 tbsp water, add the onions and celery, cover and sweat until nice and soft (15-20 mins). Blitz in a food processor/ Liquidizer.

Using the same pan, heat the remaining butter, add the flour and cook gently until creamy (a roux), add trhe milk slowly, whisk until smooth and thick, add back the onion/ celery puree and the stock, heat through until smooth. Season with nutmeg, s&p.

Garnish with a swirl of cream and parsley. I used homemade croutons, in lieu of parsley and think they work very well, made me think of bread sauce...:)




RIP Keith, I've raised a toast to you this evening :)